Pontiac Finance Director John Naglick leaving for Detroit

PONTIAC — Through a succession of three emergency managers, Pontiac Finance Director John Naglick has been a constant. Now, he’s packing up his calculator and heading to Detroit to work for a fourth.

Naglick announced Friday’s that he’s accepted a job as Detroit’s finance director, taking him from Pontiac, a city of 60,000 whose emergency manager resigned in August, to a city of 700,000 that, with billions in debt, stands as the largest community ever to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

Naglick, 59, of Rochester Hills, also teaches at Walsh College and is a former forensic accountant. He’s married to Karli and has three children. The CPA said he’s excited to start work in the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center.

“I’ve always wanted to see a turnaround of the City of Detroit, and feel that under (Emergency Manager) Kevyn Orr’s leadership, we have the best opportunity to reinvent the city,” he said.

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As Detroit’s finance director, Naglick said his first order of business when he starts work is to see the city through its next audit.

Orr was appointed to Detroit in March, and Naglick said consultants have studied city operations ever since, and city officials are “ready to make some concrete changes.” He’ll report to Chief Financial Officer Jim Bonsall.

Some of the city’s finances are still handled on paper, and different systems aren’t integrated, Naglick said.

“As the property tax revenue declined, the weaknesses of the systems have clearly shown themselves.”

Naglick, who was appointed by former Emergency Financial Manager Fred Leeb in 2010, said that leaving his office at Pontiac City Hall is an emotional decision.

“It’s a city that had a proud past and really took a substantial hit with the downturn of the auto industry,” he said. “To give it a chance to have a rebirth is one of the things I’m most proud of.”

Naglick said one of his accomplishments was the outsourcing of Pontiac’s income tax administration. “We now have a modern income tax system that permits electronic filing,” with timely payment of refunds, he said.

Pontiac’s budget is still “very much hand-to-mouth,” Naglick said, but added that the city is providing its core services well.

“I know that a lot of the changes were very difficult on people and they were hard changes to make, but I firmly believe that the city has been restructured from the standpoint of how it delivers services. I’m proud of the fact that public safety is our No. 1 focus.”

The Oakland County seat is looked at “as a model for what can be done,” he said.

Pontiac’s finances first came under state supervision in 2009. The city’s spending has been slashed from $57 million annually to $30 million. Emergency Manager Lou Schimmel left behind a two-year budget when he resigned Aug. 19, and Schimmel now serves as vice chairman on the city’s Receivership Transition Advisory Board.

Nearly every service has been outsourced, including police and fire protection, and the city’s payroll is down to about two dozen from a number that once approached 1,000. Schimmel paid off $87 million in debt during his time in Pontiac. The city’s tax base has shrunk by almost half since 2008, and balancing the budget has meant painful cuts, such as the recent elimination of health care benefits for the city’s 1,200 retirees — a savings of $6 million every year.

“John and I worked very closely together for the entire two-year period, and he did far more than just finance director (duties),” Schimmel said Friday.

“I involved him in nearly all of the major decisions in the city. He was just very key because of his complete knowledge of the entire financial picture of the city. It’s going to be really hard job to replace him. Life goes on, and I told John he has to think of what’s best for him first, and the city will survive.”

Naglick holds a bachelor’s in accounting and an MBA in finance from the University of Detroit Mercy, and his resume includes time as an audit manager at Price Waterhouse, 15 years at a public company in Cincinnati, Chemed Corp., seven years at Suave Enterprises, a Detroit-based environmental contractor, and more than three years as a director at Alix Partners, a turnaround consulting firm headquartered in Southfield.

About the Author

I cover the City of Pontiac, as well as the northern Oakland County communities of Brandon Township, the Village of Ortonville, Springfield Township and Groveland Township. Reach the author at dustin.blitchok@oakpress.com
or follow Dustin on Twitter: @SincerelyDustin.